Passenger service units are found in commercial or passenger aircraft above the rows of seats and are used to provide various service functions to the passengers. Typically these service functions include reading lights, personal air outlets, illuminated display symbols, and a flight attendant call. Typically, reading lights and personal air outlets take the form of an overhead directional service unit, in which a direction a service output (e.g., light or forced airflow) of the overhead directional service unit is adjustable. The controls for these service functions are generally disposed on a service panel of the passenger service unit above the seats.
Prior to certification and delivery of the aircraft, all of the overhead directional service units may be required to be directed at a predetermined location, for example, as defined by the customer. As examples, this predetermined location may be a seat or a tray table located below the overhead directional service unit. However, manual adjustment of the overhead directional service unit into an appropriate position directed toward the predetermined location may be difficult for a variety of reasons. As an example, power to the aircraft may not be available when directional adjustment of the overhead directional service unit is performed. As another example, the seats and/or tray tables that define the predetermined location may be not installed when directional adjustment of the overhead directional service unit is performed. As a result, some of the overhead directional service units may not be in the appropriate directional position, which may then require a manual check of all of the overhead directional service units and repositioning of those that are not directed at the predetermined location.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art continue with research and development efforts in the field of aircraft certification and delivery.